I’ve come to the conclusion I don’t agree with the definition of Gatekeeper. I do agree there’s more than just the two extremes — regardless of whether you call them “Warrior” and “Forgiver” or “heavy-handed militarism” and “turn-the-other-cheek pacifism.” I suppose Gatekeeper is as good a term as any for that “middle of the road”…
Part of a quick “reflection” written for my aikido class. Huzzah! My aikido class has a list of recommended readings. The first of those books, which I requested at the library, has come in and is now successfully in my hot little hands. I’m the proud new borrower of Richard Strozzi Heckler’s “Aikido and the…
This is an invite to the Open House being held for the Master’s program I’m in. It has been, quite frankly, life changing for me, so if you’re at all intrigued, please come out to hear more about it. Open House & Information Session Saturday, January 23, 2009 at 12:00 p.m. with Co-directors Judy Grahn…
Spent most of yesterday in a state of carefully controlled panic. I’ve been desperately working on finishing my late papers for last quarter — thank goodness for being able to “pre-load” WP with my reviews and Bestiaries! So I have a desktop with Word 2007, the latest version, on it… and a nice but very…
I was enthralled by my correspondent’s enlightening statement to me, and I spent some time trying to figure out where my spirituality was. Eventually I concluded it was not a particular location or animal in which I found the sacred — it was more the concept of the wilderness, of Nature itself as iconic of…
I was already working hard on mental independence, unconsciously using Gross’s “hermeneutics of suspicion” (121); looking back, I think my fierce desire for physical independence, and my complete disinterest in certain sexual positions I considered demeaning, stemmed from that understanding. Since then I’ve also had recommended (but not yet read) Peggy Reeves Sanday’s Femininity &…
It was no surprise, therefore, to discover the other two Religions of the Book (Judaism and Islam) seemed equally reprehensible in their treatment of women. I was boggled to discover Judaism seemed to consider women not only “unclean” whenever they performed the absolute miracle of birth — but that a girl child was somehow filthier…
Childhood Spirituality & Implications Durkheim’s definition of religion was a huge relief to discover in my early college years; it was a clear explanation for vague and inchoate beliefs I’d held since childhood. At that time, of course, I was not consciously aware of the iconic, near-reified nature of the various flavors of christianity my…
Paper written Fall 2008 for the Women’s Spirituality Master’s Program class Women, Religion, & Social Change; with professors D. Grenn & M. Rigoglioso. Bibliography (with amazon.com links included) at paper’s end. Introduction My final paper for the “Women, Religion, and Social Change” class is based on the question: “What are the social, ecological, spiritual, political,…
There’s a lot I’m learning in my classes on Women’s Spirituality that I feel somewhat perplexed by — sort of a “doesn’t everyone know this?!” kind of feeling. I don’t feel I’m that unusual, though, so I guess a lot of the other women must be feeling this too. Still odd, though.